WHITTIER, Calif. - Southwestern took the lead early and never looked back as the offense added more goals to pad the lead while the defense recorded their second shutout of the season as they defeated Whittier 5-0 on Friday night.

After trading shots to start the game, Whittier took three straight shots and seemed to have the game under control. That was until Marco Alcocer and Evan Perkins teamed up in the 16^th minute to give Southwestern the 1-0 lead. The duo wasn't done, however, as Perkins found Alcocer once again in the 37^th minute and sent the Pirates into halftime with a 2-0 lead.

As the second half got underway Southwestern made quick work of extending their lead, needing only four minutes to put another one in the back of the net. Perkins once again assisted, but this time to Zach Faulkner who came up from the backfield to score.

Following the kickoff Whittier came down and got a shot on goal, but once again Daniel Poole had the save to keep the shutout intact. On the transition it was the Pirates who recorded yet another goal, just two minutes after their previous one, as Steven Resnik found Paden Williams for a 4-0 lead.

With a sizeable lead and the game seemingly in hand most teams would go into cruise control, but not SU as Williams added the fifth and final goal in the 68^th minute, unassisted, to arrive at the 5-0 final.

Southwestern actually trailed in the shot count 22-13 and were nearly even in corners 5-4. Poole was the difference maker, however, as he recorded a season high eight saves in the win.

SU improves to 4-3 on the year with the win. They close out their California trip with a game at Redlands on Sunday at 2 p.m. CST.